Our feast of painting with Julie began on Monday 19th October with a one-day workshop at the Jamberoo Youth Hall. Here Julie guided us through the painting of ‘ Honey-eaters in Grevilleas’. Julie had several photos from which to compose her work. She discussed how to place the elements from each photo she wanted to include in her painting and then demonstrated each aspect of the painting, guiding us in brush and colour choice followed by the techniques needed to produce the completed painting.
Demonstration on Tuesday 20th October. Review by Cheryl Howlett
About 30 people enjoyed Julie’s demonstration of reflections in a river. She had drawn rocks and trees on her 300gm block paper. Working from light to dark (the watercolourist’s formula), she started by spraying the paper where she wanted to paint the sky and background trees, , letting the paint move down the paper. It was interesting how she left white where the main tree trunks were and added various shades of green for the distant foliage. The colour beaded as it moved down the paper when it hit dry paper areas. She then softened the reflections in the water which are always darker in tone.
* Do not have the paper on too much of a slant as your paint will move too quickly.
* Remember to add the sky to the reflections.
* Always have a piece of paper the same as you are using to test the tone of colour.
* Spray lightly where you want to work on the paper as this should prevent ‘cauliflowers’. Julie kept spraying where she added contrast foliage remembering to do the reflections as she went.
* She uses the tip of her brush in a very loose manner for the foliage, getting stronger in tone for the nearer leaves. Using this colour she cut around the rocks. Where there was plenty of pigment she used a credit card to introduce leaves and branches.
* Julie uses only her original colours throughout her painting, just changing the water content in the pigment. She made a brown out of her mix and painted in branches and tree trunks which added interest.
* She left the white paper showing on top of rocks and boulders highlighting them.
* Julie uses the Needle Point brush to get lovely loose lines on her work. The base holds a lot of pigment and the tip is very flexible for line work.
* Again, spraying first, Julie added the reflections and interest to the river water, letting the pigments run.
* With reflections, follow the lights and darks in the foliage. With a small brush darks were dropped into the water mirroring the foliage. Using a rigger and soft spray the tree trunks were added to the reflections. Fingers were also used to soften off some edges in the reflections.
* A darker blue was added at the end to the reflections, and horizontal lines drawn to complete the painting.
Julie lets her brush dance across the painting.
Two-day Workshop – 21st and 22nd October.
This workshop was teaching how to set up and light for still life. Participants brought their own objects and lamp and could paint in their favourite medium.
Julie brought along an eclectic collection to demonstrate setting up.
Everyone set up their own collection and positioned the ligh
ting and then set to work, with Julie demonstrating out the front.
Following are some of the eager painters, their still life compositions and their works in progress.
Photos by Doreen